T'was the Night Before Christmas....

... and all through the house,
the TV was deafening at Mom and Pop's house.

The stockings were hung but yet to be filled

with candies and Combos and lots of goodwill.

The parents were nestled all snug in their recliners,

With had visions of gummy bears what could be finer
And Mom in her blanket and Pop with his puzzle,

And me I just wanted the TV to muzzle!@#
Cleaning and cooking, sweeping and mopping
and then off to do some last minute shopping
Paper and ribbons, boxes and bows
wrapping and tape, anything goes!
And all of a sudden there was a knock at the door
Twelve people for breakfast and for dinner much more
The TV still blaring, the parents asleep
And me, my sanity I want to keep

As I finally snuggled in bed for the night
"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

Reader's Digest version of stories that will never be written

A ton of tiny twinkle lights lay tangled on the tile floor alongside a bevy of broken and busted, battered and beat up balls that had been bounced across the blanketed floor and there in the middle of the chaos, lay Clarence the cat, who had inflicted copious amount of damage on the Christmas tree that had crashed to the ground at the crack of dawn that cold Christmas morn.

Mrs. Grinch

You probably didn't know that the Grinch had a wife. She lives with me. I love decorating for Christmas. I love the bright lights, the colorful decorations, the presents and bows, the beautiful music. Mom loathes the thought of card writing, caroling, baking, and celebrating the season.  Pop on the other other hand, enjoys looking at all the glittering decorations on the tree and watching my sisters and I decorate their house. He loves his "antique" train set that circles underneath his Christmas tree. He loves to tell the story about how he bought that train set for his daughter, Jackie's, first Christmas. He is enamored at the prospect of opening presents on Christmas morning and joyfully singing Christmas carols. Mom, however, sums it up..."I'm going to be Jewish this year"

 Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,

Was singing! Without any presents at all!

He HADN'T stopped Christmas from coming! IT CAME!

Somehow or other, it came just the same!

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.         - Dr. Seuss